[ Here is a summary of the Fane of the Winds adventure, written by Alegra Falconer,
from her perspective. If you're looking for the bardic historical document, you'll find it
elsewhere, written by Gramaliustranstalus. If you're looking for the most complete
presentation of the heart and mind of the primary Questers and the Phaulkonian Church,
you need look no further. This note is scribed on specially prepared parchment to
facilitate its preservation over time. -M ]

The time: May 2187, just after the end of the Brothers' Quest with
Warwick having brought the evil cloud giants to justice, Alegra returns
home to Tan-El to deal with the rebuilding process. Things do not remain
peaceful for long

The great roc that lives in the area between Miles High, Sairt, Middle,
and Kelburn has always been a minor nuisance, not a threat to life and
limb, causing small damage and occasionally carrying off an ox or
something. Recently, however, the roc has attacked and completely
annihilated several caravans, leaving no bodies. A group of powerful
knights were sent from Kelburn to "deal with the problem" and didn't
return. As a first alternative to hiring the Daring Dozen to destroy the
roc, Alegra was contacted in the hopes of resolving the problems with the
great bird peacefully.

The druids theorized that roc had mated, or at least the pattern was
consistent with that of hatchlings. Still, no male roc had been in the
area for any length of time, and mated rocs tend to raise their young
together. The situation seemed suspicious. Was someone attempting to
frame the gigantic bird (the size of a 727)?

In order to tackle the problem, Alegra needed to determine if a fight
would be necessary. She rallied her henchmen followers and was joined by
Rangorn, fresh from the return of the Daring Dozen in the City of the
Gold. Theo stated that he would come if a fight was likely, but not
otherwise, as his duties at Tan-El keep him busy.

April 02, 1998

*Stone Soules Reunion* Or At Least, That's What Might Have Happened

Well, I must admit that a mischievous streak hit the collection of people
at the game. While a devastating fight between the evil Borglyn and the
forces of good made good copy, the reality was a bit different

Our party, composed of members from the Duchy of Estwurl in the Southern
Waste and Dunadorian knights, from the Cromwellian Academy Teams, from the
disbanded Stone Soules, and from other sources familiar to the other stalwart
adventurers, gathered in Dunthrane City in 2187. (There was some interesting
updating done on many of the characters.)

(Sahrak remained with his traveling circus so that it would remain intact
and his henchmen wouldn't desert him, and realizes that his adventuring
career, at least for the moment, is over.)

The party then performed a Divination, Astrology, and Commune. The
Divination resulted in knowledge of a moderate force of Lawful Evil, and
a slumbering but very powerful supernatural force of Neutral Evil. There
was "subjective" treasure. The influence of the nine dark moons,
representing unstable or unknown magic, was undeniable. Our lucky number
was 5 and our unlucky number 162. The color gray was important.

Our party, composed of members from the Duchy of Estwurl in the Southern
Waste and Dunadorian knights, from the Cromwellian Academy Teams, from the
disbanded Stone Soules, and from other sources familiar to the other stalwart
adventurers, gathered in Dunthrane City in 2187. (There was some interesting
updating done on many of the characters.)

The party then performed a Divination, Astrology, and Commune. The
Divination resulted in knowledge of a moderate force of Lawful Evil, and
a slumbering but very powerful supernatural force of Neutral Evil. There
was "subjective" treasure. The Astrology revealed the sign of the
Wanderer heading toward the sign of the Cornucopia, but was intersected
by the sign of the Four Brothers before the Four Brothers entered the
sign of the Void. The influence of the nine dark moons, representing
unstable or unknown magic, was undeniable.

Warwick, having lost his support roster for the Dim Forest adventure
thanks to a terrifying Divination by Alegra in early 2186, decided that a
new quest was necessary to reinforce the Warwick-Alegra alliance and
provide political benefit for both the fledgling city-state of Tan-El and
the government of Cromwell.

The party to be gathered was a collection of elite fighters, a cleric,
and a wizard, all of whom shared a hatred of the Brothers. The Brothers
are a pair of evil cloud giant mercenaries of the Fog Clan hired by humanoids
to kill humans, humanoids, and other worse things. They particularly
delight in
killing good clerics. Opponent's limbs and heads have been known to fall
off
with a single swing of their swords.

It was the sort of challenge Warwick relished. (i.e., Warwick's just crazy
enough to enjoy that sort of thing)

September 18, 1997

Stone Soules: The History of the Party in Brief

Accomplishments of the Stone Soules

"'Not all who wander are lost' -- but we certainly were."

The history of the Stone Soules in brief:
I. Party foundation in Teft.
II. Caravan guarding and small journeys.
III. Junior adventuring with the Knife.
IV. Greate Olde Woode adventures and long journeys.
V. Tan-El exploration.
VI. Middle-of-the-Road foundation.
VII. Dunadorian politics and defeat of great evils of Tan-El and the Ziggurat.
VIII. Mithril Key quest.
IX. Southern Wilderness adventures.
X. Party dissolution at Tan-El.
XI. The Foundation of the Regency Council of Tan-El.

A more complete history, minus the uninteresting details...
This is an effort to give you a brief summary of every important event in the existence of the Stone Soules Adventuring Party. Though many particular parts of the party's travels were of note, most are greatly abbreviated to give you the best impression of the overall lifetime of the group. [Kyle's note: only accurate through 2185. Also, part of the middle of the history is missing.]

The party met at the Blue Star Inn in Teft, 15 March 2167.
Sign on with Taylor as caravan guards for a trip to Blackstone.

* Ogres attack after Riverneck. Exploration of village leads to death ofHawk, Stump, and Jana.
Gurney the mercenary, Alegra, Dranigh, and Ceydric defeat the bandits demanding toll for passage.
Sanderson the bandit is captured.
Illegal loggers kill Stan and nearly kill Dranigh.
Dranigh is left with Fyar the Druid in Loba to heal.
Sanderson is hanged after an unsuccessful escape attempt at Jebel.

September 17, 1997

Stone Soules: Closing Information for the Party

Here it is. The long overdue summary I owe you all.

In December 2184 the party reassembles at the Academy. Most party members
have earned ~10 k XP and the items are divided up. Mordrick wishes the party
his best regards and welcomes future letters, as he travels to visit his uncle
and resume the hunt for Prince Obmi.

Orimaxes announces that he wishes to try to destroy Tellah. He asks to
travel with the party to Tan-El in time for midsummer's night.

September 10, 1997

Summary LXVIIIb: A Xavier and Rangorn Interlude

From the notes of Rangorn, bowman of terror:

As you may recall, just prior to the attempt to defeat of Tellah by Orimaxes,
Xavier and Rangorn went to get trained and pick up henchmen. As a note:
RANGORN FAILED HIS PLAYRATING GUESS. I guess 2.0, it was 2.1. Drat-- 1000
gp down the tubes.

After stumbling out of the training hall embarrassed, but 6th level,
Rangorn rejoined the now 8th level Xavier, and summoning his henchmen Han,
Luke, Sam, and Brogan, they marched back to Middle.

(By the way, I continued my crazy hit points streak-- I rolled a 7 on a d8.
Xavier has 45 hp, and Rangorn now has 56!)

The intrepid adventurers downed the Treasure Finding Potion as promised,
and moved swiftly in that direction. Apparently the potion may have been
obscured, or just wore off, but the distance to the treasure was unclear
and shifted semi-randomly, though the direction was constant.

We eventually came upon a clearing with some vultures in it, and a large
hole in the center, bones strewn about its sides.

Talking to the birds, we deduced that a large worm had taken up residence
there. We decided, naturally, to kill it and grab the loot. We were
expecting a quick grab the items and run, so some of our spells were
detection spells rather than combat, which proved unfortunate.

May 02, 1997

Summary LXV: The Pit

For the sake of my sleep schedule, I'll just throw in a quick summary so as
not to leave everyone in suspense. Full summary hopefully tomorrow!

And thanks to Chris playing Theo!

The party meandered around the Pit area of the Southern Wilderness without
realizing how close we were. First the party was surprised by a giant
slug. Rangorn took massive damage and had some equipment destroyed by acid
spittle. Again.

Then we spotted an owlbear. Being extremely bloodthirsty, we trashed it
with the help of _Slow_ spell and everyone just generally raining damage
down on it.

Then we entered the Pit. Ominous terrain, full of undergrowth. The party
hacked its way through to a torn path. We followed the gigantic tracks,
guessing that a huge bear thing (roughly 40 feet tall) had made the trail.
We spotted the creature-- Monster ID revealed it as a "dragonbear"-- result
of experiments to combine dragons and owlbears. After waiting for bad
weather, Alegra began the attack with _Call Lightning_. What followed was
about a thousand points of damage and dozens of single wounds. The
creature finally dropped, but with a dead Ceydric nearby. In addition, the
unfortunate Runt had been incinerated by an earlier blast of fire (it had a
7 segment breath weapon-- full details on this later). Ceydric was rescued
by Mordrick and Theo, who dragged his body away from the suddenly rumbling
body of the dragonbear. About a minute later, the body exploded into huge
flames, but the body was shielded by the two valiant fighters. Now wasn't
that fun?

April 22, 1997

Summary LXIV: South, to the Wilderness

The summary:

The party headed south out of Cromwell toward the mountains. Rangorn was
surprised by a totem. We moved on, and began our gradual ascent into the
mountains. Snow began to build up on the ground, and once the party had to
break off the march at midday and take cover in _Leomund's Secure Shelter_,
courtesy of Eli.

The next day the party advanced through the fresh coating of snow, but was
attacked by a fanged creature that attempted to drag Runt into the snow.
It was slain, and the party trekked to a nearby cave. In the cave was a
huge segmented worm thing, which was dispatched through the able fighting
of the mighty Stone Soules.

In the back of the cave we discovered a magic pickaxe, which turned out to
be a holy symbol for a frost giant religion. There was also a one-way (the
other way) panel at the back of the cave, which we decided not to
investigate so as to clear the mountains sooner.

April 20, 1997

Summary LXIII: Another Faranyn-Fest

More mini-Middle mayhem!

When last we left middle it had fended off Fire Giants, Giant Toads, a fire
in the barracks, a werewolf, a Kelburnian spy, hungry wolves, and a
Nevronian seeking asylum from the "evil" wizardry of Jonhalom...
As well as more anarchist antics than you can shake a stick at...

2180 was a different year. Kant the cooper (the snitch) was poisoned in a
freak accident. No suspects were apparent. A giant weasel nearly took down
Cassana and landed her bed-ridden for a few weeks. A cave bear attacked
town and we went out and slew it. A valuable shipment of goods and gold
bars came through town. Ax, man-at-arms, bumped his head. Once again, the
anarchists made people sick at the Founders Day celebration.

Now for some fun stuff. The Daring Dozen returned from digging up a
grave-yard in Tan-El and paid salvage tax. In addition to the 24000 gold
they brought back, Faranyn seized the philter of persuasiveness and since he
had first pick he chose the unidentified Rod, which turned out to be a Rod
of Resurrection with 7 charges!!

April 15, 1997

Summary LXII: Follow-ups to the Cleansing of the Citadel

Hey!

Two days after everyone arrived back in town before going to fight the
Deathstealers, Alegra presided over the marriage of Sean and Aria. Alegra
throws a 200 g.p. party for them. That makes the date 1 August 2182.
Congrats to the two of them... the party was of course invited to the
wedding and party following, along with the Phaulkonian congregation.

Kyle

BTW- the name of Xavier's fighter/mage Henchman is Javin "Famuu"
Goldthwatt and his bobcat familiar is Boris "Chowdaddy"

April 08, 1997

Summary LXI: Versus the Deathstealers: Overwhelming Force

The results are in...

Stone Soules 3 Deathstealers 0

There was also an early development during Sahrak's return trip-- his
caravan was attacked by a dozen gnolls. The dozen guards fought back--
only one guard was killed permanently, but so was the owner merchant.
Oops. And there weren't enough animals left to pull the caravan back to
the nearest town, so it was certainly a pyrrhic victory. But both Sahrak
and his new henchman survived.

When we last left our heroes, the Stone Soules were preparing to assault
the deathstealers.

April 01, 1997

Summary LX: A Middle "Faranyn-Fest"

Catching up on some Sir Faranyn, Middle chronology from 2179, we had an
interesting mini-adventure the other day. I won't elaborate much on the events.

Murder Mystery, Middle:

A man-at-arms in the keep was killed one morning. He had been ripped apart
by a furry creature. A wood-carrier and an assistant cook were questioned,
and lots of other info. was put together. A lycanthrope was suspected but
could not be proved. (Retrospect provided the answer).

A later event at a shanty-town north of town, where workers were building
confirmed the lycanthrope theory. Several folks were killed when a large
black wolf attacked. Following tracks, we found that they circled around
back to the shanty town.

Later, at the shanty town, the wood-man's wife was killed and Sir Ceydric
chased down the werewolf. He easily killed it and the incident was wrapped up.

March 22, 1997

Summary LIX: What Is Known About the Deathstealers

It is clear from divinations and communes that the supernatural LE force is
in charge in that part of the castle. Specifically, according to the Grim,
that is the Citadel, which Beck had previously told us was separate from the
other sections of the Castle Bah Nareth.

Divination: Creatures there are vastly powerful (compared to Letier). Very
rich treasure in the area...Forces of LE, vastly dominant, chances of
disturbing are moderate to high.

Any earlier reference by the Sphinx places possibilities of Ghouls very
high. Specifically, he never mentioned the DeathStealers.

March 15, 1997

Summary LVIII: Return of the Stone Soules

In the aftermath of "that Dark Servant thing," the Stone Soules begin a
downtime... (triumphant music)

Many trades were made in Cromwell, and by Eli at the School of Wizardry,
including the necessary teleport-damping devices and Protection from Devils
scroll in preparation for the upcoming assault on the deathstealers.
Ceydric autotrained.

Eli waited and the School of Wizardry while the party continued to
Petethal. At Teft, Sahrak left to train, Xavier trained locally, and Lorm
was contacted. Lorm agreed to join the Stone Soules in the attack on the
deathstealers, with all the protection he could amass. He also brought
Serin, his henchman mage (and an arsenal of items). In addition, Xavier
picked up two henchman-- a cavalier of House Maxwell, and a fighter/mage--
as yet unnamed.

March 08, 1997

Summary LVII: Beyond the Dark Servant

Quick summ:

Memorial service held for Deirdre
Party/Funeral/Party at Dwarves
Ruben's Runner to Shocktrooper informing him of sack of Temple
and that they should not disturb sleeping evils
Lots of purchases and trading at Dwarves
Alegra, Star, Eli, Theo, Warwick, Tristan, Raven leave for Cromwell
They encounter a furred snake
There is a dual wyvern attack.
We track to a lair and find some stuff and capture 3 wyvern
eggs.
Out of the mountains: Creepy forest.
Fight: 12 zombies, 5 wights, 1 spectre, 10 ghouls
Raven is permanently level drained but gains back the level
through later training (he lost almost all of the adventure
experience as a result)
Letters were sent to Faranyn, etc. from Hook Hill
Hochoch-- High Holy Day, etc. (Warwick becomes a Phaulkonian!)
On to Academy
The Rest: Wait for Spring, get armor and weapons made.
In creepy forest: attacked by 4 wights.
The party rejoins at the Academy. Eli has paid to be teleported ahead to
the School of Wizardry.

Magic items are selected. (Loot at wyvern lair and Groorg's potions add a
couple of choices. Final selections to be posted later.)

Total take: 50% of 2.089 Million.
Almost all of Groorg's treasure was given to the Dwarves.

March 01, 1997

Summary LVI: The Stone Soules vs. the Dark Servant-- The Final Chapter

Ok here goes:

We tried the proposed -Find the Path- scroll and it failed-- it turned out
to be nearly impossible for it to work.

Xavier -Aid-ed himself and touched the robe, then put it on. Nothing out of
the ordinary happened and the robes were deemed safe for clerics as well.

With Star helping mentally, Raven looked up at the runes and got the message
about the three rooms. Hoping that maybe picking a fruit with a
non-personal aura object like a sword would prevent the damage, Rangorn
swung at the branch with his knife.

Out of character: the first of a thrilling series of rolls by your truly.
Edwin said: don't roll a one-- and I did.

February 15, 1997

Summary LIV: The Temple's Beautifully Rendered Artwork

All figures are 10 feet tall. They surround a 10' square column of purple.

The Black Idol: Southern Side; Jet Black
This figure is wearing armor made of fluted, runneled, and winged plates.
The mail is made of downwards pointing triangles. Some sort of cape hangs
over the shoulders with scalloped edges near the knees. It holds a huge,
wavy-bladed two-handed sword. The helmet has no openings, and it covered with
strange projections and spiny ridges, much like the armor.

The Green Idol: Eastern Side; Deep Dark Green
This figure has a broad chest and wide shoulders. It wears a flowing
cloak that has sleeves that hang over the hands. A high collar goes from
cheek to cheek, and a tight cap is on its head. The figure is wearing a mask
of an old man. A staff leans against the right shoulder, lightly grasped.

The Red Idol: Northern Side; Dark, Intense Carmine
This figure wears high boots, hose, a doublet-like garment, and
gauntlets. These look strangely familiar, but are clearly of some foreign or
ancient style. The figure wears a long hood, drawn tightly around a faceless
face. The figure holds an axe with the blade on the ground and the hands
resting on its handle. The axe has a short handle, but the blade is long and
has many angles and an end spike that rests on the floor.

The Blue Idol: Western Side; Deep Indigo
This figure wears a garment with many pleats. It wears a girdle
with strange runes upon it. A broad cowl largely hides a blank surface
where a face should be. The arms are held so the hands meet at the center
of the chest (with elbows out to each side). The arms and hands are entirely
hidden by the robe, but must be holding the strangely convoluted and filigreed
stick (Scepter?).

Disturbingly, I have this level of detail on almost anything in the temple
you choose to examine in detail...

The Upside Down Pyramids in the octagonal room are two stepped affairs,
a pair of trapezoids stacked atop each other. Only the outline imples the
separation of the two levels, as the entire thing is nothing put a
silhouette. The bottom of the shape (top of the pyramid) is flattened rather
than pointed.

February 11, 1997

Summary LIII: More of the Stone Soules vs. the Dark Servant

Before this, his result was "The Four Brothers approach the sign of the
Hawk." The Four Brothers is a meteor shower and the Hawk a constellation.
At that moment the Bird Man Tchoh-Meh was approaching to talk to us about
asking them to do a third-party Know Alignment.
The hostile nature of the four brothers was emphasized by the astrology
readings. The fact that this was "unhappy" for our fate in the "cornucopia"
relates that obviously our chances of reaping the cornucopia of wealth are
small at this point and that the FB might be making it smaller....

February 07, 1997

Summary LI: What Comes of Being in Possession of a Dark Temple at the End of the Day

Joel will probably be writing the summary soon, but here are some brief
"teasers" for the game:

1. It's amazing how little can be accomplished from about 9 hours of effort.
2. Non-divinable areas are no fun.
3. Shocktroopers are no fun.
4. Cold environments, that even the most powerful of clerics of the weather
God couldn't deal with, are no fun.
5. Puzzles that make no sense to an outside observer are no fun.
6. I think it all boils down to the fact that evil isn't really any fun.

The game featured:
1. Fun with Numerology! The mathematics! The supposition!
2. Fun with Astrology! The terror! The suspense!
3. Fun with Speak with Dead! The humor! The cunning!

February 01, 1997

Summary L: Fallout from the Death of Groorg

Here's a very brief summary. Since we didn't do a whole lot that requires
much description, it will be pretty easy:

1. Searched the areas of the temple where Groorg's men went. Found lots of
interesting items and most importantly the Mithril Key. Rangorn would
probably want us to detail his daring escapades fighting wolves here, but we
won't.

2. Rescued an adventurer dwarf, recently captured. Later we found his
chain mail of weightlessness (along with another suit that we found). Lots
of other cool treasure.

3. Rescued two Realmish privates who had been tortured. We healed them.
They were from the anti-Drake, anti-Cromwell side, but we didn't really care.

4. Explored the catacombs below the temple where the "glowy things" were.
The halfling-size prints clued us in that they may be will-o-wisps, and we
later encountered two of them. We tried to track their treasure down, since
two will-o-wisps could very well be hiding over the gems. With that much
cash, perhaps even will-o-wisps could share.

January 28, 1997

Summary XLVIII: Groorg the Cunning Is Taken Down a Notch

January 22, 1997

Summary XLVII: The Bird Men, or, Rangorn Learns to Fly

My first attempt at this, so please be kind:

Using the directions given by the dwarves, the party traveled along the
roads, choosing the path at each fork that led more toward the indicated
direction. After several days of travel, we came across the path of several
giants but decided to stick to the road rather than move at the astounding
speed of 1 mile per day. We later encountered a "totem," or post of skulls
(identified by Warwick to be hobgoblin primitives). Deciding to follow the
path rather than skirt the territory (ownership unknown at the time), we
traveled until we spotted a high plateau less than a mile off.

Ceydric scouted the top of the plateau via -Fly- and -Invisibility- spells
and discovered a large building. A large bird, (wingspan 25') flew out of
the building. Ceydric peered through the "doorway" and spotted several
other bird-things (they were red and blue- striking colors, not dull). One
of the birds circled in his general direction, and he turned around and
headed back toward the remainder of the party. The bird was carrying a
spearlike object in its claws. Ominously, the bird followed for a distance,
gaining altitude but staying directly over Ceydric. Suspecting the bird
would dive-bomb him, he called out in Human, "Hello!" The bird turned
around and headed back toward the plateau. A few hours later Eli and Alegra
flew up to the top of the plateau in what they hoped was a non-threatening
manner. One of birds spoke hesitant Human, but Alegra cast -Speak with
Birds- which greatly aided communication. (This was done repeatedly after
this point)

January 17, 1997

Summary XLVI: The Quest to Recover the Great Mithril Key

Hello--

Here is a brief summary of the games on the 15th and 17th. Note that much
of this informations is "Class 2 Classified" in Cromwell and that, as
always, publishing on the list should not be construed that we are being
loose with our lips...

Mission: Recover the Great Mithril Key requested by the Behir before he
will leave the city. We believe that the GMK is the key to the box in the
"Electrical Zoo" of the Castle from which the Behir escaped, presumably some
time after Tan-El fell. Probably the Behir is still tied to the box and
cannot be gone for too long from the vacinity. Once we have the key we will
explore what the results of two actions would be : 1. Unlocking the box;
2. Destroying the lock and key together. We have not committed to
releasing the Behir, because we are aware that he is an evil creature, but
we will have to gauge the risks when we come to that. So, for now we must
find the Key.

January 10, 1997

Summary XLV: After Some Tan-El Answers

And don't forget the 40 or so new party magic items! ;)
Yes, there are about that many, but only about 10 would you count as actual
items, the rest are "assets."

I think the semester has come to a successful and fulfilling conclusion. If
you like closure, and you had the full scope of what was going on in Tan-El,
you would see that things are starting to wind together, though there will
always be mysteries...

December 20, 1996

Summary XLIV: How to Destroy the Vampires Stored at the Ziggurat?

seven vampires in gaseous form incased in tar- how to destroy/ get rid of
them? There is also a devil in trapped in a jar.

method #10- throw them all into the pool of at the Shrine of
Nevron. " Hey, I know where a pool of holy water is..."

Player # 1: "Sheesh. We'd need an awful lot of holy water, and at the price
of about 3000 gold per gallon, we could run up a little bit of a bill..."
Player # 2: "Hey I know where we could find a huge pool of holy water, and it's
free!"
Okay, we have to confess that Player #2 was ZACK! Hee hee!

December 14, 1996

Summary XLIII: Against the Ancient One in the Dark Pit and More Tan-El Stuff

Our next expedition was to eliminiate the "ancient one" so we went to the
Ziggurat and performed a ceremony that destroyed the evil altar there, as
well as dispelling the hell hole. Eventually some of us might call the
Ziggurat home, now that it is rid of all dangerous evil. I am sure if we
scraped off the soot and featured what remains of the hell hole (by
building some sort of dais around it) it might look like a neat place.

December 07, 1996

Summary XLII: Tyner's Tower: Disturbing and Other Answers

So next was Tyner's tower...at last. As usual, "questions were met with
disturbing answers." (an augury we got once). We got in through the
usual method and started experimenting with what turned out to be the
bedroom door. As was guessed by other players, Tyner was well prepared
to protect his place from other mages (although with all the magic here,
I don't see how Tyner could have made the place within a human
lifespan). The knock spell on the door caused a memory moss to hit Eli
and eat all of his spells in memory. Kinda delayed the expedition :)

So we used the Chime instead and found beyond a plush arch-mage bedroom.
Everything was magical to some extent, from the carpet that is always
clean to the warm sheets etc. We found four cool magic items which we
still need to identify amongst the other standard Tan-El fare...you know,
twisted bits of metal and, a Chaotic Evil (malignant) force in a bunch of
jars. Appeared to be some sort of ooze. Xavier tried to sprinkle holy
water on it but was attacked by some insubstantial mist that temporarily
drained two levels and enticed him to open the jars (Hmm...I wonder what
would happen if we dropped the jars into the hell hole, let the two bad
boys fight each other first :) ). So anyway, we moved on to the door
that led to the next upper level.

November 22, 1996

Summary XLI: Beyond the Ziggurat: Witchdoctor on the Offensive

Beginning with the party located at the Ziggurat, we setup camp for a
little while and cast some _Speak with Deads_ to try and find an entrance
to the Ziggurat. We found that there was a star shaped pendant
(pentagram) on the witchdoctor that supposedly opened the blocks. So we
spent a good deal of time finding all the real magic items on the loser
(he had some aura altering spell cast on virtually all of his posessions
so they appeared to be type 5 magic) so many dispels later we had his
holy symbol and the "key". Around this time, Alegra felt that we were
being scryed upon and almost immediately after that feeling the blocks to
the Zig opened. We took that as the cue to pack up and leave. We
figured that if the witchdoctor was going to fight us, we would rather do
it in the forest instead of his Zig.

So, later that night some distance away, the witchdoctor attacked by
drinking potions of firebreathing, spell immuning himself, and throwing a
silence over the area. It looked dangerous for a second (after Ceydric
had taken 60 points of fire damage) but our consistent damage won out.
He had lots of cash for a bugbear (probably just looted the Zig).
Anyway, we made it back to Middle and the downtime began.

November 20, 1996

Summary XL: More Fighting at the Ziggurat and the Slave Pens

When we last left our intrepid adventurers, they had just taken the
Ziggurat. Ceydric was battling one of the bugbear commanders on one of
the upper levels and the party was picking off the other fleeing
commander and nameless retreating bugbears while trying to catch up to
Ceydric.

Combat with the bugbear commander ended rather quickly and Ceydric then
moved to get the other commander. He, however, tried to retreat into the
Ziggurat when his comrades collapsed the entranceway, killing him and
almost squishing Ceydric. This unfortunately prevented the party from
gaining immediate access to the Zig so we then seized our advantage and
moved to take the slave pens before the bugbears could react too quickly.
Many more scrub bugbears die...

Head back towards Ziggurat. Feeling of being watched (scrying). Try not to
give any landmarks and stop the scrying. Every once in awhile it happens
again. We decide to attack rather than have them ambush us.

We ford the river north of the Z and head for it. We detect a sizeable
force (say 75) bugbears behind us. We make straight for the Z. There are
fortifications. Bugbears and ogres die. Ceydric (flying, prot. from
missiles) opens the gate, gets hit by ballista, fights deformed Cloud Giant.
Cloud Giant hammers Ceydric, but no wound. Eli and Deirdre unload scroll
magic missiles at it, doing about 90 some-odd points of damage, a couple of
bow shots, it flees into the air and out of range too soon --darn it!

November 04, 1996

Summary XXXVII: Returning to Middle and Research Results

Hey all!

Here's what happened (in brief):

1. Raven turned down his potential druid henchman who was a total weirdo
(and probably fanatical).

2. Alegra picked up a henchman bowyer-fletcher named Frank and a
Phaulkonian Ranger henchman named Sean, who happens to have both an 18/33
strength and an 18 intelligence. He's really cool. Frank specializes in
crossbows. Frank will soon be Phaulkonian. :)

October 22, 1996

Summary XXXVI: Castle Exploration and the Revelation of the Death of Tan-El

Castle walls:

We completed the mapping of the Castle area by searching the walls for
trapdoors. We found two things of interest:

- some sort of spectre, haunt, or ghost that was rather easily destroyed
but reformed fairly quickly. It did NOT detect as evil. I suppose that a
rest eternal might put the spirit to rest before it reforms. Abjure and
Exorcism might also work.

October 21, 1996

Summary XXXV: Xavier, Sahrak, and Recent SS Adventures

For those perceptive, Xavier has become less intolerant of Sahrak after
the 2H sword incident in which Sahrak used color spray to good effect.

After the recent Banshee beatle incident, Xavier became much more
accepting of Sahrak and his role in the party.

Also for those perceptive, mid way through the gatehouse illusion (which
I will describe shortly) Xavier started weeping heavily.

After his death and resurrection (by raise dead), Xavier became
slightly more serious, melancholic, and resolute.

Finally, after Carse, he mentions that he believes that the party doesn't
have to worry about the owner trying to track down the 2H sword. When
asked how he knows this- he shows a rather sorrowful look and says that
he doesn't want to talk about it. He obviously feels pretty bad about the
issue.

The sum total of all the events that happened pretty much in 2178 is that
Xavier has this look in his eyes of fierce determination but also great
sorrow (the kind one would get after seeing thousands die in front of
him and also being responsible of the death of innocents even though he
was ignorant at the time.)

October 15, 1996

Summary XXXIII: The Tale of Years and Other Things of Interest in the Castle

Hello!

Game-results-in-brief (this means that the major attack force of Auguries
will be summarized into the important ones):

I. The Falchion Sword of unknown mind-affecting but no bonuses to hit, etc.
and not intelligent, recovered from the body of Gen. Quarath along with the
magical plate of protection from Magic Missiles.

It appears to provide a charisma and confidence boost that makes anyone who
carries it look cooler. It has been evidenced that everyone experiences
"withdrawal" symptoms if the sword has to be taken off, even to go to bed.

October 08, 1996

Summary XXXII: Some Things We Always Meant to Get Around to but Never Did

1. Castle enclosed courtyard: killed a couple of mobile tentacle-using
trees (that looked dead): by lightning bolts and having Henry fly over them,
dousing them with standard oil and then lighting them on fire with arrows.

2. Explored other rooms within the castle tower:
More alchemy rooms, and a room with a research library on
Lightning-related magics, in Runic I. Within this room was a _Wizard
Locked_ cabinet which contained a RUNE for DANGER and a large locked book,
and a key. The book, which radiated Type 5 magic of ABJURATION/NECROMANCY,
was labelled "The Tale of Years." Before this, we had been told that in
opening the cabinet "No benefit could result." The _Augury_ for opening the
book and reading it was more ambiguous (and yet not): Would it be
beneficial for the party to unlock, open the book, and look inside? "Yes,
but vast disaster is the more likely result." "The Tale of Years" is an
often-used title for chronologies, but what this book does is up for grabs.
Here are some theories:

A. It's a lich-maker. If you read it, you become a lich or
have a better chance of becoming a lich.

B. It's ABJURATION side is linked in some way to the methods
used to contain the LE force.

C. In general, it could be a mini-codex of sorts.

D. There are many other possibilities, but it appears that it
SHOULD have some kind of link to the Lightning fetish of Tan-El and
this research library, but it is not clear that it does, since
NECROMANCY at the least has little to do with Lightning.

October 01, 1996

Summary XXXI: The Future

As far as has been apparent to me, the Party has made it its once-and-future
goal to do the following:
-----------------------------------------

1) Clear Tan-El of evil, threats, mobile treasure able to benefit the
Party, and knowledge plundered from within.
2) Allow a gradual occupation of the city limits of Tan-El by the Stone
Soules and extended party.
3) Settle the city as an independent city-state in some way associated
with, run by, set up by, or otherwise related to the SS, but not a part of
nearby Dunador.
4) Figure out the technology (golems, electricity, etc.) in such a way as
to provide it for its citizens and government in a safe manner.

September 22, 1996

Summary XXX: Loose Ends All Around

September 15, 1996

Summary XXIX: Turning to the Sacrol

What we did:

Argue.

We then attacked the Sacral. It was affected by fire, magic missles,
LIMMs, spiritual hammers, dust devils and Alegra's crossbow bolts. (not
goblins though) Because of its slow movement rate, we were able to
outmaneuver it and eventually disperse it.

Alegra exorcised it while Xavier and Star chanted. It reformed during the
Exoricism and attacked Canstin and Alegra. It missed Alegra, and Canstin
made his saving throw. Konrad, Ceydric, Aria, and Canstin were able to
quickly inflict enough damage to destroy it. Alegra finished the exorcism.

We received alot of treasure from the Sacral's pile of bones over which
it formed and from the gatehouse.

September 08, 1996

Summary XXVIII: The Attack on the Grey Philosopher

In brief: Versus the Philosopher

We entered the area with some _Dust Devils_ (2 from support group, 1 from
Alegra) and advanced. 9 thoughts attacked per wave. Some got through on
each wave, and they all went for Konrad in the center who had Gram's
sun-coin and his own Prot. from Evil. Konrad took damage from the thoughts
like everyone else. Eventually, we were closer to the main gate and decided
it would be better to advance and go through than retreat (i.e. it was closer).

The gate was to our right and a tower structure to our left. From the tower
a black cloud began to creep towards us. This killed the _Dust Devil_
Alegra had with her (draining it of a HD, before it died). The wall of
black cloud slowly approached us from behind. Zombie Bugbears appeared in
front of us. Weird telescope things sprayed lightning at us. A (later
identified as a) humanoid (with a staff) fired magic missiles into us (from
the staff). As it came closer, the wall was filled with skeletons, many
many of them. This matches the description of a Sacrawl (sp). Then it
basically became a race to escape. Lightning was thrown around blasted
zombies. Alegra _Called Lightning_ and dis damage to the wall of black
cloud, but the skeletons simply reformed 2 segments later, slowing it down
(it was moving 3" anyway). We then hit the gate, opened it with the Chime
and escaped. The Sacrawl (and its haze) attempted to follow us out of the
city but stopped not far from it. (weird ghoul-like more intelligent undead
followed at this point)

September 01, 1996

Summary XXVII: The Grey Philosopher and Sacrol: Reconn and Divination

A Divination of the Zone of the GP: (2000 + 2000 from Konrad's diamond +
Ring of Alignment Shielding)

The Forces of XXXXXX are prevalent in the area
The strength of the forces are only strong, but inspiringly resilient.
There is vast immobile irrecoverable treasure in the area.
Moderate wealth is also in the area.

XXXXXX is the name of the/an infernal power who's name should not be
invoked. We went to get the name researched from Beck, and Eli invoked the
name the second time. It summoned a weird abyssling-like creature with
weird abilities (Eli, Sahrak, Yorlik, Xavier, Claude went to End for this).
Yorlik was eaten. Eli escaped with a dimension door. Beck saved Xavier in
the end. Eli, before leaving, dropped some vitrioli which nearly killed the
first creature, sending it back to its plane, and ultimately killing the
second, which did not make it back. A third, small, fanged, winged,
cat-like being appeared and touched Eli. Eli then had many black traceries
all over his skin. This turned out to be "Tainting," that is, Eli could be
_Turned_ by good clerics, detected as a point of Evil (Malignant), and could
not in fact be affected by clerical healing magics (since clerics can't
touch him). An _Atonement_ would be necessary to help him.

When they arrived back in Middle, Eli was _Dispel Magic_ed/Remove Curse_d.
This temporarily (for 10 days) removed the Taint, which then allowed us to
attack the GP.

May 22, 1996

Summary XXVI: The Final Steps in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Old Ones (or Great Ones)

Hello, all!

Konrad & co. arrived with some fanfare, we killed the WOTW (see Zack's note below),
and prepared for the GOO attack. We prepared the party by dividing it into teams Alpha,
Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Foxtrot and Tango. Echo was dissolved since its
mission was not entirely clear. Tango's mission was to stay at the Transporter.

A,B,C checked out the courtyard and Theo and Konrad killed the 2 giant
poisonous snakes there before they could react.

We then executed the Plan, and entered the building, sleeping and killing
the guardian snakes in the Entranceway and burning the contact poison off
the handle (that Ludo discovered).

We opened the door to the GOO's quarters and entered its room, Ceydric and
Faranyn, with team A ready to fly in. It retreated out of a back door, past
a glyph, throwing lightning bolts. Xavier dispelled the glyph and the wall
of ice that sprung up. We chased it around corners and up stairs, getting
an occasional shot at it with arrows and by Konrad and Theo. It went over
another glyph and the rest of B piled up behind while A went forward. It
failed to open a door and they wailed it; Faranyn crashed over the glyph and
was Blinded. It ducked through a secret door and kept being hit by Konrad
and Theo.

May 21, 1996

Summary XXV: Castle Bah Nareth, the Great Ones, and other menaces

Divination on the Castle:
Creatures there are vastly powerful.
Very rich treasure in the area
The forces of chaotic evil are present and the chance of disturbing them are
high
The forces of lawful evil and vastly dominant, but dormant, the chance of disturbing is moderate to high under the special circumstances
---
Two days after back in town - in the war room -
"I WILL KILL YOU ALL IN YOUR SLEEP IF YOU DO NOT RETURN MY TREASURE"
Just some cud to chew on.
E-
---

May 14, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XXIV: Finishing Some Easy Tasks

Greetings one and all, we have an interesting story to relate today, one
of fame and fortune, but also of infamy and loss.

We started the evening in the library. There were a couple of things
that were brought up in email to try but both Jack and I didn't want to
get bogged down in the library again, so we took off to explore the city.

In one of the blocks, was a rather run down old Inn. Ludo detected a
secret panel in one of the walls, fairly well hidden. Xavier checked to
insure that Ludo was successful in determining there was no traps. Since
there were none, Ceydric opened up the panel. TAKE TWO.

May 07, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XXIII: More Information about Tellah

Some auguries to keep in mind:
To attempt to steal the spell books:
"Vast disappointment will surround any unlikely survivors."
[pretty bummin', I'd say!]
To try to test Tellah's powers with a monster summoning:
"Wounds will be nursed with the small comfort of disturbing answers."
[hmmmm, not exactly making us jump at it]
To try to pick-pocket or remove any of Tellah's rings, etc.:
"Only vast disaster will result."
[duh!]
To try to attack Tellah:
"Partial success could kill thousands of innocents."

April 30, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XXII: Little Was Ultimately Accomplished...

First of all, everyone got back from their travels. Xavier brought back
lots of disposable items from Lorm for our attack against the
abominations. Eli brought back Slow, Ruben's Warriors, Monster Summoning
I, Rope Trick, 27k sage credit, Amulet of Protection from
Detection:Golems, Ioun Stone of Protection +1, grey Ioun Stone that makes
you tired (enigma value), and the ever disappointing Chime of Opening.
Ceydric takes Kergul's items to be identified. The only item that is
wacky is the ring of alignment obscurement, it has a Feeblemind
contingency in it that will go off when the condition is met. What fun.
We sell the nerve poison etc. Party has 40k in credit and cash.

April 22, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XXI: Tan-El Again

May 17- It is a nice sunny day for the dynamic weirdos to check if the
behir is in the city. He is not, so we enter. Our plan is to check out
huge portions of the city with relatively cursory searching. We start in
an area that we are familiar with and find the old mite building still
empty, the Constabulary with its teleporter, and then a room full of
bats. Well, so they were stirges in mass numbers. We killed them.
Inside this building was a dead fire giant wearing a symbol we had not
seen before, but carrying cash that we are quite familiar with. Easy
money, not much pain. Nothing else found this day.

May 18-Continuing our search, the day is relatively uneventful...and then
something terribly bad happens.

April 15, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XX: Further Explorations of Tan-El

1. Dari was trained as a thief to prevent her play rating from getting too
bad. We will train her as a thief and Canstin as a fighter after a couple
more excursions into the city.

2. Exploring Tan-El
a. Finally encountered the Giant Ants in the city in the NE.
Xavier talked to them and we retreated.
b. Encountered a Fire Giant exile (from the FG central gvt) who was
a Chelsean cleric (he learned from a Cloud Giant outpost) and believed
strongly in cities and societies of all kinds and races, which led to his
exile for blasphemy from the FGCG. We talked with him and swapped
information and took him to the rebel FG colony near Middle/Tan-El. He had
a fire mastiff giant Bassett Hound for a pet.
He provided a lot of interesting information for us and we for him,
especially about the lies propagated by the FGCG.
His name was Tarrence. Ashen Rock, where Borglin lives (Gram might find
this interesting), was where the "ancients cremated their dead." A people
known as the Grey People (humans with predominantly grey hair probably)
lived and traded with the FG and Stone Giants who once lived in End before
Tan-El's collapse and the destruction of a great human empire, which
produced a wasteland to the east. (there's lots more information).

April 08, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XIX: Spiders and Undead: More Tan-El Fun

Here's the game in brief. If possible, we are going to play more again on Saturday since Edwin didn't feel well enough to play too late tonight.

1. The Spider. We were prepared and tried to kill it. It was above animal intelligence. It at one point dropped a mummified body to us as we were trying to get to it. The body had magical gear, including a mage spell with a 9th, 8th, and 7th level spell on it, cast at the 19th level. This was a serious treasure. We tried to get up further into its lair, but could not. We tried to communicate vocally but could not, though it did speak in its weird language to us.

April 01, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XVIIIb: Eli Shoots... Eli Misses!

(reminding us all that "Elves don't play basketball." --Edwin)

Well, Eli tried his best but he failed to learn Knock by 2%.

That is right, just 2%. Essentially Eli went to End and found that the boyfriend of the general valued his spells far too much and Eli's hardly at all so Eli went elsewhere. The mage of the Daring Dozen had knock on a scroll (bad news) so Eli traded a couple of useful but not detrimental spells to attempt to learn the knock. He failed.

The good news is that if we find a text of knock in our adventuring and if Eli converts one of his magic theories to a specific (read as 2-3k gp and 4-5 months) then he will have that 2%. Or we could wait 200 years for his brain to mature.

Sorry guys but Eli just plain sucks at 2nd level spells.

Some good news is that he was able to try a technique whereby he is guaranteed to hit a small compact group of people with his pool ball about three times. Will have to try it against the next lesser one we face.

One last note, I did note use any of the parties resources, just many of my own for no return. Eli is contemplating a life of criminal mischief. He could kill Hildebrandt and the dozen with a clever trap and then take all their stuff!!! Bwaahaaha (maniacal laughter)!

March 16, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XVII: Rounding Up Party Resources

After looking through the sheets given me, I have compiled the new Revised
Miscellaneous Party Equipment Sheet. I will bring a printout to the game.

The House in End
----------------
E. Round Road #3
45' x 15' with 7' x 7' cellar and a loft.
Bedroom, living room, kitchen, 2 chimneys, door into living room with either
room flanking. It has been improved by the work of Normabrahms and now has
meager furnishings. The 14 g.p./year tax is on the yearly budget. The
armory shed and carpentry set have moved to the Soulestone. The cart has
been moved to the stable at Middle. Pack Horse #3 (22 HP) has been moved to the stable as well.

March 07, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XVI: Review of Tan-El Forces

The Forces of Tan-El by the Sphinx
----------------------------------

The Undead everywhere, loosely aligned
Giant Ants major in some aspects (NE in city)
you WILL DIE if you continue investigating
Demonspawn The Castle -- "control" (LE force is in
control)
Behir Doesn't live in city -- visits
Bugbears Many more than you would guess--
some like us, some hate us
(Tower, some elsewhere)
Golems not coordinated unless city-disrupting force
most dormant
Mites Many tribes (old ogre territory, castle, tribe
in Temple District, main gate house, southern tribes)
Fire Giants Don't live in city
Lots of hidden dormant things

March 01, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XV: Griffon Castle Is Taken

After much arguing and debating we finished the castle attack plans. Ludo
had discovered that the Duke was gone but would soon be returning with more
troops about the time the Councilors passed on through. Due to this
concern, we decided a quick attack staged as soon as possible was best.

Then, Faranyn was contacted magically by a member of the Democratic Front
who made it plain that he did not like Faranyn as a Royalist, but that we
had mutual enemies in the Duke. He assured Faranyn that the "Duke would not
be going anywhere any time soon." He claimed that the Duke was beside him
and could not do anything to stop our plans. He then proceded to tell him
to make sure the mission was done "right." He urged us to get every piece
of evidence we could.

February 21, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XIV: Griffon Castle and other Mysteries

...Later that afternoon we found a castle with a griffin on top and
attacked it.

We fought long and hard and eventually we won and captured the Duke and
rescued the Prince.

Lowar cast Knock on the Gate and reduce was cast at the Porculus to create
a door through it."

These are essentially a part of a logbook that we received from Holland.
Our scouting has revealed that Griffin castle is similiar to what was
described except we see no Griffin. There is a Gate and porculus.

February 14, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XIII: Who Said 13 Was an Unlucky Number?

Well,

here' some further information you might all consider interesting. During
our party's New Years Party in Middle, an assassination attempt was made.
It was foiled chiefly by the use of the magic Bell near the War Room in the
Tower. When a "riot" broke out during the party, we suspected a trap and
fled into the War Room while a patrol took care of the riot. Shortly after
arriving in the War Room, a loud crash was heard outside. Upon opening the
door, Faranyn glimpsed the remains of someone apparently killed by the Bell
creature. Later, we discovered that this was the assassin's plan:

February 13, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XIIb: Comments from the Gallery

Folks, I don't know how to tell you this but I've been waiting for this
sort of information for a long time. A couple of years ago, a group of
characters, under the leadership of a character of mine, entered Sark
determining to infiltrate it and send intelligence back to Koralgesh and
the Sarkian royal faction. At the time we were seeking the aid of some
bigger players and half of our party went to Andevar to see his aid.

Needless to say, the half that went to Sark were ambushed and the entire
operation flushed down the toilet.

Seems that the World Empire had been informed that a party of massive force
was approaching Runk(sp?) intending to destroy everything.

I have, for some time now, thought the informant was a member of the
Sarkian royal faction as we discussed our plans with them before we left
Koralgesh. Now I believe otherwise.

February 07, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XII: The Meaning of the Message

Well, well, well.

The situation was bad enough as it was with the Nevronian cleric, etc.
The political situation was sticky and confusing and we weren't sure WHAT
was going on. Now, get this...

It seems that Ser, the Steward of Middle, was sent express mail before we
arrived back in Middle giving him a 100 g.p. gem, and offering him a sum
100 times that if he poisoned the entire party. He had merely to meet an
agent for the poison. [question to Edwin: where was the meeting place?]
Luckily for us, he refused to meet anyone.

As if this weren't bad enough, it appears that the Duke of Andevar is one
of the co-conspirators of Earl Belzar, and the letters came from the
office of the Chief Steward of Andevar, with the Duke's signatures. The
letters indicate a definite exchange of illegal weapons (a 10,000 g.p.
fine) but do not specify parties involved. If it could be proven that the
Duke was aiming to send weapons to the Central Government Fire Giants with
the hope of destabilizing the End frontier of Dunador, it would be
treason. And the penalties are best case banishment, worse case death.

As such, we are in, as they say, over our heads. Though it is unlikely
that the Duke of Andevar will admit that the party we killed were his
agents, if it were to come out the wrong way, the party might be tried for
their murders. If so, Ceydric or Faranyn could be the Champion and choose
trail by combat, but if the Duke of Andevar pressed the issue, he would
have to fight Kirkroy, the Champion of Andevar, who on a recent Dunthrane
Day, even beat the great Norall during the tournament (Norall is an even
worse case scenario if Hollend becamse involved). And if we were found
guilty, execution for most of us, and burning at the stake for Alegra,
would be a most unhappy end to our adventuring careers.

Reason #1 why Dunadorian politics is bad: Dying is always an option.
Reason #2: if you are a non-Nevronian cleric (read: unwashed cultist) it
is even more likely.

February 01, 1996

Stone Soules Summary XId: Summary of a Summary

GROUP A: Faranyn, Eli, Xavier, Cassana, and Ludo
At the Stone Giant ruin
GROUP B: Alegra, Theo, Jerem, Pap, and Claude
At Borglin's

GROUP A was disappointed, the deal was a hoax, and had to hike home.
HIGHLIGHT: Eli's Sleep-spell Hunting Technique

GROUP B made a deal with Borglin and the Fire Giants. They got the
Merchant, some cash, all the magic items, transportation to Fort Halfred,
and the destruction of the Giantish weapons.

HIGHLIGHT: The two spell books, the wand, and other cool items, and everyone
surviving.
LOWLIGHT: Discovering the party we encountered and thrashed included a
_Nevronian_ cleric. We also failed to save the mage before he died.
At first we had to look at ourselves and say, "Well, what kind of group were they
for working with FIRE GIANTS, anyway?! ... ... Wait a minute, WE were
working with Fire Giants, too... uh..."

Basically: We lost a couple of months, got some cool items, lots of XP, and
involved in political intrigue we didn't want to be in, gave Middle and End
a little breathing room from Fire Giants, saved a hostage, and are otherwise
in the same position we were in last year.

Stone Soules Summary XIc: Clarifications on a Theme

Let me clarify the following points a little:
>The caravan the Earl was with was carrying weapons for the fire giants
>around the End area (enough for 200). These giants were the unfriendly
>ones which besieged the fire giant city near middle. This city rebelled
>against the central fire giant clan rule and the latter wishes to attack
>and defeat the city. They also may have hostile intentions against End and
>Middle and 200 of them can definitly do alot of damage (Middle would be
>overrun, probably End as well)
>The Earl decided to fake a kidnapping and sell the weapons to someone
>else. He did not have the proper payments for Borglin, who took the Earl,
>his bodyguard, the weapons, and the head merchant, which may have
>important political ties and may be of great help to political enemies of
>the Earl.

Stone Soules Summary XIb: A Sick and Twisted Playground

Telvar is now alot more interesting than what it appeared to be before
yesterday. I read alot of weird fantasy, spy thrillers, and sci-fi
suspense, so I like sick and twisted playgrounds. The element of intrigue
is a welcome alternative to the tradition adventure of killing monsters and
getting treasure.

Of course we did that too. Killed 10 fire giants and a party of adventures
of respectible skill. We did this with only half the party, but of course
we did have help and the element of surprise.

Summary X: The Capture of Earl Belzar

Here's a brief summary of our quest --

A Dunadorian Earl, Earl Belzar, and others are being held by a cloud giant
named Borglin on the edge of the Indicara, near Fort Halfred, at Corner
Rock. The Earl was captured by bandits on the old wilderness road. Special
delivery bards have been through the Wild Wood Inn 4 times in the three
weeks he's been captive with deliveries to the giant.

Friends of some bandits we took captive on the way to the WWI arranged to
bring back the Earl from the giant (a ransom). What is not commonly known
is that the Earl is to be brought back dead. (We however don't know the
Court intrigue here, etc.).

The directions to "where the Earl is" are:
Big mountain to right--cave
Cave is disguised as a building.
Borglin is there, expecting trouble, expecting the ransom.
Around past the Mountain in the Haunted Place.
Something other than what is obvious is going on.
"At the Corner" -- Corner Rock near Folt Halfred.

People in Fort Halfred know and deal with Borglin on a regular basis --
"normal guy." Borglin rides a Roc.

Corner Rock is a volcano, active. The jungles surround it. Tuzloi natives
live in area around Fort.

SS: PEOPLE WE'VE MET:
----------------------
1.Hawk Fist-Slam U.Hack-and-slash brief member of the SS
-> Y.Former Ranger member of the SS, not Alegra's friend
2.Vidannallos BB.Cleric near Southern Waste, fought a Beholder
3.Laird the Druid* DD.Helped Kergul
4.Fyar the Druid* CC.Took care of Dranigh at one point
5.Antarcus EE.Renegade Ranger "wanted for questioning"
6.Demitrius AA.Frazzled old guy delivered to on Turney's journey
7.Fenn* M.Caravan leader after Turney
8.Finn T.Assassin worshipper of Sharkaas
9.Sobair O.Champion of End, fought anarchists
10.Jonias II.Knight at Anchor Rock
11.Grien G.Alegra's former Falcon.
12.Jana Marina Bendallis H.Former thief member of the SS
13.Turkonis* X.Half-elf cleric, former member of the SS
14.Turkaneous* F.Alegra's horse
15.Derek Blackstone D.Ranger leader of The Knife
16.Alvin E.Started an adventuring group March 15, 2167
17.Alexis I.Traitor at Molehill's
18.Bruce P.Our friendly anarchist insurgent
19.Norall J.Champion of Dunador, jousted on Dunthrane Day
20.Kirkroy N.Champion of Andevar, jousted on Dunthrane Day
21.Laura of Baranar S.Cleric who left the party due to Alegra's cowardice
in battle
22.Zhrogruckz Z.Bugbear chief killed by the Lesser Ones
23.Ghizorak R.Enemy of Ceydric, member of Fleshrenders clan
24.Zaras Q.Half-elf we saved in Tan-El
25.Mierin* FF.Merchant who thinks he's a snake
26.Milf GG.Zaras' mage companion
27.Rat C.Borin's henchman
28.Eunice B.Kid Ludo pretended to be
29.Kendall Y.Former Ranger member of the SS, not Alegra's friend
-> U.Hack-and-slash brief member of the SS
X.Half-elf cleric, former member of the SS
30.Bernard Hemps HH.Possessed by Kergul
31.Dranigh Cye A.Former Ranger member of the SS, Alegra's friend
32.Tap* V.Sergeant hired in Teft on our first "Independent
33.Spencer* K.Guy who ran a timber caravan Dranigh was on
Adventure"
34.Keefan W.Ranger who came to Dranigh's funeral
35.Geranth* L.Guy who trained Borin the final time he was a member
of the SS

January 21, 1996

Stone Soules Summary IX: Finding Something Useful to Do

Beginning 12 July 2174 with healing after the Owl Bear attack.

Despite some minor incidents with wild animals on the way back, we arrived
at Middle safely and planned our next move. It was agreed that we should
find out if there any monsters plaguing the nearby elven village, Sert. If
this proved unsuccessful, we would journey to the Wild Wood Inn for some
more adventure possibilities. If these proved unfruitful, we would move on
and decide when the time arrived where we would go. The splinter party
consisted of myself, Theo, Faranyn and his squire, Pap, Cassana, Ludo, Eli,
Claude, his bodyguard, Jerem the archer, and Xavier. Faranyn and Pap
brought along their warhorses, Lochinvar and Thymine.

Cassana and Dari journeyed to the elven village to seek out information.
Most of the elven villages' problems were to the south and west near the
'Dark Wood,' inhabited by weird 'demons' and other minions of evil. There
were no particular local monsters which caused this village trouble.

January 14, 1996

Stone Soules Summary VIII: Death and Taxes

The scores on this week's game:

Little People 5
Lesser Ones 0
(some unspecified number were still left even after they killed 'em)

Stone Soules 2
Little People 4
(that is, taxes:
we did taxes without identifying the items. The LP took the magic arrows
as a lot as their choice and our second choice got a magic scimitar; we
also got a potion but they got a magic long sword and a token and potion

Note that previously we traded our +3 SMALL shield to the LP for +1 Long
sword for Ceydric and +1 Chain for Cassana)

Little People 0
Faranyn 1
(the Scimitar turned out to be a +2 Intelligent Scimitar that strikes fear
into the hearts of your enemies, written in Archaeic, this Neutral Good
sword's name is Baneful)

November 11, 1995

Stone Soules Summary VII: A preliminary response

This is a preliminary to any larger summary we put out, just to let the
people not at Cornell have a good quick idea of what happened.

We set up an ambush for the marauders tha proved completely successful.
We then came up with a further idea and demanded in a message that they do
not raid on any human settlements in the area. The next night they stole
some pigs. We then responded in kind with an Eli/Dari attack based on the
old "Invisiblity/Call Lightning scheme" that completely decimated the
marauders at their camp in siege at the Fire Giant city. The marauders
thought the attack on them came from the city and they tried to attack it,
and the Fire Giants from the city came out and stomped them. We then sent
the Fire Giant city Bardic Mail claiming responsibility for the attack. The
cavaliers hoped that they would be owed a debt of honor, but they said that
they were grateful, but refused to owe a debt of honor to lesser beings and
so sent us 5,000 giantish gold as "mercenary pay" instead.
This allowed us to train more (=10,000 human gold).

November 04, 1995

Stone Soules Summary VI: Just when you thought it was safe...

While awaiting questioning and staying in Jonhalom...Star was possessed and killed Alegra during her sleep with a 6-segment kill,
then went over and tried to kill Letier during his sleep with a 6-segment
kill/poisoned dagger from the "potion" we had taken. Letier was not
instantly killed but killed by the poison. Some kind of explosion tipped
off the Duke and Xavier, who came in. Duke restrained Star and Xavier read
the slow poison scroll from Alegra to revive Letier.

October 28, 1995

Arriving at base camp on the 20th of August 2173, we healed up to send a
group back for Tesla's body (we had scryed and knew the body was there). I
went in this group with Dari's cloak and along with me, Ceydric & Theo were
invisible, spell immunitied, protected, and aided when the time came to go
in, and Faranyn, Jerem, Letier, Darkeye, and Xavier. When we approached the
doors, a bell went off and quickly Ceydric and Theo went in and Faranyn and
I, with help from Xavier and Jerem, held the doors. Though they took fourlightning bolts, they escaped with Tesla's body and we weakly headed back to
Middle.

October 13, 1995

Stone Soules Summary IIIe: Xavier's 3-Second Analysis

Score: Great ones: 1 (out of 21 party members)
Party 1 (out of 3 GO)

In spite of the destruction of one Great One, We will have significant
trouble progressing. If they were not aware of us earlier, they are now.
The defenses of the castle will be ready for us. The GO may work together
in their defense. We cannot attack two at the same time- we are not strong
enough.

Stone Soules Summary III: The First Step in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Ones

The First Step in the Inevitable Defeat of the Great Ones
---------------------------------------------------------
PART ONE

The Stone Soules returned to base camp on 17 August 2173 bearing a heavy
burden. The mashed body of Cantstin, the elven archer who joined the S.S.
after we defeated the killer of his parents, Molehill, was sadly deposited
at the campsite while the party discussed important strategy for dealing
with the Great Ones in the wake of the panther-beast's attack. At long
last, tactics discarded and discussed, the Men-at-Arms rode away towards
Middle with Xavier, the treasure recovered from the panther-beast, and
Cantstin's body for Reincarnation.

Before daybreak 18 August 2173, the Men-at-Arms arrived, with Ceydric
arrayed in full armor and Henry bearing his banners and Tesla at his side.
As camp was struck, the Behir-scouters set out ahead, and the S.S.-at-large
headed towards Tan-El, while discussing final strategy points and hand
signals. Nym and Henry were left in charge of the Men-at-Arms at base camp.

The scouters decided that the Behir had not recently passed. They returned
to the main force outside of Tan-El, near the archway. The S.S., in force,
entered Tan-El via the cutbacks and, lead by Ceydric and Faranyn, approached
the transporter, or Tan-El Constable Dispatch. With a usual flurry of
attack-and-defense movements, Faranyn and Ceydric cleared the way for the
party and checked the side rooms. Ludo did the trasporter routine, and
before long we were in the room facing the castle bailey. We exchanged our
last loud remarks and headed silently (or at least not loudly) into the
bailey and approached the large bronze doors....

October 12, 1995

Stone Soules Summary II: Reconn on the Great Ones

OK... So this is the full extended version, for party members, so we all
know what happened.

First let's review... It was midnight, and we had just finished the
commune. We had a ton of questions, namely what to do about the LE force
and how to take them on. So we talked for about another hour and finally
decided on a course of action. We decided that we would launch a recon
mission of invisible characters (or darn close to invisible characters) to
find the best way to get into the castle. Everyone agreed with the idea,
so we decided who this party would consist of. After a short time we
finally decided that it would consist of Ludo, Dari, Canstin, Duke Charles,
Eli, and myself. We figured that these people could hide pretty well (Eli
and Canstin could be invisible in the shrubbery surrounding the castle, and
Dari is a thief... the other three of us would be invisible. Finally we
turned Duke Charles invisible, and we all went to bed.

October 11, 1995

Stone Soules Summary I: An adventure in Tan-El, Before the Great Ones

[note that summaries are hereafter numbered according to their order from the beginning of the great SSOULES listserv, though there are obviously many adventures that occurred before the listserv, given previously and in the old Stone Soules "logs". --Kyle]

2173
August 9th: (cont'd) We went to the Temple of Kor in Tan-El.
Letier observed that the South and West windows were still
intact, a fact he was not expecting after 3500 years.
We discusses plans for their recovery but agreed that since this
was the best place to cast divination from, the Temple could not
yet be decommisioned. Letier cast a ceremony to look at the Scroll
Library, which had been removed safely, showing that the
inhabitants had left relatively slowly, since they had time to
remove it. 2 pock-marked metal boxes were removed.
We travelled until nightfall to reach Middle, so we could sleep in
our beds once again.
10th: Copper coins inside boxes bore this legend: "Tan-El
(symbol of the city)
Hail Khahoatep"
We agreed to purchase the coins for their possible
interest. Scrying revealed bugbears in nice armor
('Spawn servants) in the Theatre. We looked in the next
couple of days to see the door we had entered through to
get to the Theatre in our ambush was boarded up crudely. I
took a sketch of the board placement.
We sent Eli & company (with Star) to Bec the sage in End.
Eli purchased _Feather Fall_.

October 10, 1995

Stone Soules Summary: Alegra's Letter to Gram

[This message contains materials mailed 4 August 2173, Middle. The date of arrival at the New World Repository and subsequent forwarding or pickup will be decided by Edwin. --Kyle]

Dear friend, 4 August 2173

Less than a week after your departure from Middle-of-the-Road, several new adventurers came to the area seeking help in exploring the ruined city of Tan-El and we agreed to take them on as helpers and fellow adventurers for a trial period. Perhaps you remember the exploration of Tyner's tower and the very interesting things that were encountered there. We decided that there were loose ends that needed to be tied up, and for that reason we entered the city.

Foremost on my mind, was the fact that the high-magic stain on the rug had in fact never been analyzed to make a determination of its contents -- or whether it had in fact dripped through the ceiling!! We crept into the city with our new comrades, and convinced the doorknob once again to let us in. After various explorations my concerns panned out. Indeed, the black stain originated from the inaccessible floor above us. The addition of a continual light bead to the floor above through means of Ludo's great dexterity proved the existence of a room above but little else, other than that a space below the stairs above was where it originated from. After no secret doors were revealed, we thought maybe it might be machinery leaking or whatever, and took a sample for the alchemist to examine. He determined that it was the pure essence of a being of "vast evil" contained in some sort of tar or paste. We have not determined further what it may be, since our time has been limited in other ways.

September 29, 1995

Stone Soules Summary: Tan-El, the Demonspawn, and Us

The game on 29 September 1995, proceeded as follows:

Info. on location of the Capital City of the 'Spawn is determined to be "Southest of Port Elizabeth, beyond the "Great Rock.""

Info. on lesser spawn tactics are much as we have seen them, though it is worth noting that at the height of SMART's interference in Tan-El, there were about 15 'Spawn. In the "final battle," both sides admitted defeat and withdrew. SMART left the area.

Also, apparently, Tabor's barony ideas (Tabor was a young, powerful knight with a magic lance) ended when he went to the GOC, with many helpers, and was never heard from again. Two days later, the settlement was destroyed in explosions, flames, flashes of light, etc. that were witnessed by children thrown into a latrine. Nothing but the Tower remained. The town looked as if it had been "crushed." Bec's (the Sage's) personal opinion is that Tabor attacked or provoked the Behir and thus caused the destruction of city, though remember the Sphinx's commented that the old guy hadn't been scratched in over 100 years.... (20 years ago, after the attack, there was a corridor stretching from Tan-El to the site of Middle, ala Behir).

The Alchemist said the sample from Tyner's tower contained the "pure essence of a being of vast evil, contained in some sort of tar or paste." He gave it back to us in a lead box.

January 19, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Loose Ends... Bugbears and Lesser Ones

This adventure was mostly information gathering, with one exciting incident to end off things.

Scrying -- We were concerned with the encounter we had had in the city and not knowing what exactly we had run into, we decided that information gathering would be our next best step. To this end Dari agreed to do several scrying's at different locations in the city. During the course of the adventure she scryed on:

the Barnaire Theatre -- nothing unusual
the bell room in the castle -- nothing seemed changed
the altar room in castle -- nothing changed/altar still broken
the stairs and arch to city -- nothing
the hexagonal area -- swinging around saw two dead bugbear bodies which looked half burnt and at least one had two holes pierced through the chest. The head of one was bitten or ripped off. (mmm.. yumm!)

January 18, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Gerald's Farewell and Revelation

Ern (dog) ran around the room excitedly. He seemed quite cheerful that morning and eager to play, though he did not linger long to "talk" with any one person. Finally, everyone from the party was gathered in the hall. Everyone was present except the one who had called the meeting. Even Gerald's hawk Craig was there, since Alegra had been asked to take care of him for the morning. Several party members began to wonder where Gerald could be and why he would be rude enough to show up late to his own meeting.

Suddenly Dog grew silent. As the last echoes of his barking died away, he sat down and turned to face the entryway. Just then the door to the hall opened and a cloaked figure entered. Though he walked hunched over and his hooded cloak was drawn close enough to cover his features, the brown cloak and the walking staff revealed the man to be Gerald. He walked slowly down the aisle, leaning on his staff in an uncharacteristic manner. He ignored comments from the party members and advanced into the chamber.

When Gerald reached the centre of the gathered party, he stopped and addressed the group. His face remained tilted down and much of his weight was on his staff as he spoke. "Thank you for gathering together this day." His voice revealed a hint of weariness but held an inner strength. "Before the Stone Soules embark on further actions, there is an important story I must tell you. I invite you all to sit and make yourselves comfortable and to listen well." Gerald gently sat down on the floor and lay his staff before him. He kept his cloak drawn around him, and it formed a circle on the ground as he sat. Dog came closer to his master and sat facing him.

January 17, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Sphinx's End Game

Sphinx met us, told us he was moving south. Asked Snag to come with him to be his front-man, said he'd pay 10,000 gp to load his wagons and move him. We agreed Snag & Quick would leave and would get this money as their share. We also talked him into giving us good rates on a few questions-in particular, we asked him to tell us about the major forces in the city.

Then we decided to attack the pagoda (the one with the force field around it).

January 16, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: To Do Battle with the Sphinx

The party made plans to attack the sphinx. They began making extensive plans, even contacting Duntill & Illic for assistance. There was much debate over attacking the sphinx, with Snag and Quick presenting the most resistance and Gerald and Alegra being uncertain. Most others agreed to kill him.

These plans turned out to be for naught when the sphinx approached the Stone Soules one day to address the party.

January 15, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: After the Crushing Defeat of the Trolls

After my attempt to bury the poor bones lost to the troll shaman's evil lusts turned out to be unsuccessful (their souls were lost, used by some foul god as building material and I could not save even one), we packed up and headed to Middle. We soon discovered that Eli's clean spell had somehow managed to transport all of the sewage we cleaned off from the trolls' lair, to the Sphinx's library. Ceydric informed us of this (he wasn't in a good mood, mind you) and said that he had had to pay the Sphinx in cows for his stonegoyles. I hear that the townspeople were (rightfully so) not too excited about this either. The Church needed some work, and I concentrated on that for awhile. The keeper of the Church, Star, Aria, and I all worked at some sort of a midsummers welcoming celebration, to try to draw people of all sorts into visiting. Star also began some work on composing a poem about Gerald getting his sword. In a few months, he will unveil it.

January 14, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Den of Trolls

Well, I guess that it's Snag's turn to write an adventure description. The title of this one will just have to be:

DEN OF TROLLS, PART 1: The Great Battle

(As recounted by Snaggle-Tooth the Hobgoblin.)

We all knew that the stone soules were running low on funds. We had little cash left and several party members ready for training. Furthermore, the Barony is still far from self-sufficient, and in a month or two we would be unable to meet payroll, even if we spent nothing on training. So the Stone Soules met in our war room to plan our next expedition.

There were many suggestions of where to go and what to do, but it was Gerald's pointing out that Trolls are known to collect treasure that finally won us over. There was a great deal of discussion of how exactly to attack the trolls. We considered simply pouring some of the vitrioli into the cave -- the little para-elementals seek out living creatures and then explode in a burst of acid and fire -- making them the bane of trolls.

But we decided that there wasn't any need to go to such lengths -- we were certainly capable of taking out a trolls by more conventional methods. We decided that both Eli and Dahri would attack using lightning: Eli thought that if the trolls could be caught in the narrow canyon approaching their cave then he would be able to manipulate his "pool-ball" lightning bolt so as to hit all of them; hopefully multiple times. Dahri's druidic spell required the presence of clouds from which to summon the lightning, but the weather is frequently rainy in these parts (sometimes, when it rains for days, I *almost* envy the naked races their lack of fur), so we were confident this would at worst cause a slight delay. We loaded up M.U.L.E. (that's Mighty Ugly Lugging Engine, my pack mule) with some 30 pints of oil, and set off.

January 13, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Bugbears, Vines, & Mites, Oh My!

[Much of the action begins April 5th, 2173]

From before April 5th, Eli gets a henchman named Claude, a dwarven bodyguard. Though a bit fauning and certainly a neat and orderly person, he seems nice enough. Also, there was a "kickin'" birthday party on the 1st for the whole town of Middle. Star revealed his poem about the original demonspawn encounter; it is fifteen pages long and his best yet!

The Daring "Dozen" lost three members to the Sphinx in the GOC, because they tried to run without paying his extortion money. They were "dissolved" into nothingness or at the very best some kind of slime. The ones eliminated were the ones carrying the treasure the Sphinx wanted. They had not agreed on a new name, but did seem pretty shaken. I think that they decided to avoid the city as much as they could thereafter. They also paid taxes for what they recovered. Fifteen days later, they paid more taxes from a point beyond the city.

January 12, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: A Trip to Teft

Okay, by the time we all got settled in last night (about 7:30) we didn't really know what we wanted to do besides train some party members.

Because of all the magic supplies and texts Eli recovered he had enough to be trained to his next level (as was seven other party members). Eli had been promised training and a spell when he was capable of learning it so he was at the top of the list in order and actually expense. There were several people that were very easy to train; Tesla was trained by Ceydric and Quick by Theo for the two cheapest and Ludo and Canstin ranked second and third respectively (I don't list Alegra because we need to train other people to second and third before anyone to Alegra's much higher level). In turns out, to avoid bankrupting the barony, that we only had money to train Eli and the two easy people so Alegra and Eli set off for Teft and Poseidinus respectively. They traveled in the same caravan, accompanied by 20 guards and a merchant, through the wonderful weather of winter in Petethal. The party back at Middle had its own excitement but I will talk about the uneventful caravan trip first.

January 11, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Notes on Tan-El Adventures

The city is recorded as the City of the Lightning's Call in records and is discussed very briefly as a northern city of great wealth and physical ease. The city was a sort of strange separatist place and seemed to discourage contact with the outside world.

The object that is designed to fall apart looks like a grenade. They have been used with green slime in the past.
Most of th ebooks are valueless, three are magical research texts, the only books of interest are Gertov's Guide to Setient Thought (45 volumes, similar to Blackmov's, approx value 3,000 gp): a definitive psychology text.
The bookshelves that retard flame are a standard magic item of great value to scholars and wizards. Worth 2,000-5,000 gp each depending on the buyer.

January 10, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: After the Defeat of the Lesser Ones at the Barnaire Theatre

We travelled back to the transporter in Tan-El (The Greate Olde City as we now know it), specifically in the "Tan-El Constable Dispatch." We moved through the section of wall upwards until we reached the bedroom of what we conjecture must be Brogarra, the most snake-like of the 'Spawn. Over some time we discovered that both Silence and Dispel Magic would _sometimes_ stop the bell, though it would restart when one broke the plane of the doorway. There was a construct of hooks below and around the bell though that suggested there was some item of slightly greater than magnet-size that would in all likelihood stop the bell until reactivated. Through some experimentation (and some damage to Snag and others, unfortunately) we located the item on the bookshelf that would release the bell but the invisible creature tried to recover it. Luckily, Eli's clever use of a spell [the contraband Forget] sent it back into the room and we quickly left the city with it.

When we returned we could take anything we wanted from the room with no hastle, since all the other traps had been removed. We loaded the fire-retardant bookshelves, warm/clean cushions, perpetually clean rug, and books ("Subconscious repurcutions of pyromancy," "Improve yourself through cloning," and "Gertov's Psychology" to name a few) and headed out. The Sphinx, annoying guy that he is, (as we expected) stopped us on the way out. He wanted one of the bookshelves "and he wasn't leaving without it." Eventually, I bargained him into giving us about 1750 g.p. in information and about 1000 g.p.

January 09, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Cleanup

Our wonderous heroes last left off sorting treasure and arguing with fire giants, so needless to say, there was lots of clean up we had to do. We dispelled another huge batch of snakes because we couldn't transport them like snakes (they would die and radically turn back into humans causing a big problem). So Alegra cast another large-scale dispel magic. The effects of this one were a mixed bag according to some, but I count it as a drastic failure. About a segment or two after Alegra's spell went off, we saw a flash of blue light and smelled some sort of gaslike odor, screams of lots of people, and the fire giants on the lower floor yelling at us. At first we thought we set off some sort of magical trap, but when we went down it became obvious what had happened.

January 08, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Return to Tan-El

We were last in Middle, and I visited the Church there as we pulled in. Over the next day and the next in transit, I healed everyone with the help of Aria and some from Dari. We purchased a magic bastard sword in exchange for a +1 Mace and some cash from the Baron at End. We also gathered some basic supplies and Eli learned the Change cantrip from Elowier's old spell book. We then departed to Base Camp. There was a Giant Toad there which swallowed Ludo, but because of his Ring of Free Action he could try to get out fairly easily. While trying, he killed it instantly and climbed out. It seems that chance to kill something from inside it are fairly large. So we decided to move Base Camp based on the number of attacks we've had here lately. The following day, we set out for the city, ready to check out the traps.

When we activated the teleporter, Canstin was knocked down by a Fire Giant that came through and clocked him. While we fought it, Eli slipped briefly into the portal invisibly and observed an evil priest (snake worshipper) with a shadowy lantern that produced Shadows and gave them power. Snag stuck his face in the portal. When he stepped back next to the portal, he suddenly went through the portal. Snag was enslaved by the evil priest and went with the priest when he retreated from the Korian item.

January 07, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Last of the Spawn

Part I:
We went to the GOC after training Cassana, Ludo, Dari (in both classes) and Canstin. Alegra and Tesla are close to further levels.

We found that the beihir was gone and decided to investigate the teleporter portals we had discovered once upon a time. These teleporter portals were not similar to the one-shot teleporter at the theater battle. These were double-sided portals with a pedestal before them that you had to insert a magnet in to start them (there are a large number of magnets in the GOC).

We went through the one we had found and chopped lots of bugbears to pieces. Ceydric got suggested to attack Snag a couple of times but made most of his saves. The remaining demonspawn (Silla) was doing this. Alegra "hold person"ed her and we chopped our way to her. She's dead now. She was "Viola." Anyway, we were in this room we did not know where with two double doors in front of us and everything around us dead but for one captured bugbear. Gerald is guarding the door of the room with the portal in it. He and only a couple of others are there right now. (We did not know where the teleporter took us, but we did end up somewhere.)

January 06, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Aftermath of the Barnaire Strike

Take on adventure: Approx. 40,000 gold pieces. Scroll of Protection from Petrification; a magic mace +1, lots of jewelry, statuettes, and gems; a good viola; and some weird, putrid musical compositions.

The viola had contact poison and a needle, and snake trap on it. We investigated back at Middle. We did check thoroughly for traps and removed the poison needle, and then unlocked it. Apparently there was something inside that sticks-to-snakes'ed a twig inside when it opened. The snake killed Snag in about ten seconds (he was bitten by a cobra inside the viola case) but for Slow Poison and Neutralize Poison spells later. When we killed the snake, it turned into a twig.

January 05, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Demonspawn Battle at the Barnaire Theatre

Around July 2172 - Preparations
It seems that tomorrow in the midst of the snow strom we're about to have here, will be probably a deciding point in the history of the Stone Soules. We will in all probability go and attack the Demonspawn while trying to protect Middle. We could conceivably all die, or kill them all and reap great rewards, or some shade in between.
Alegra has been talking with all the party members before the coming battle. Faranyn and Ceydric are scrambling to get preparations made ready to secure Middle.

The Big Battle
We had just arrived back in Middle at the end of the last adventure, July 3, 2172. It was pouring rain and very stormy. We then planned for the defense of Middle. We sent Elowier on a fast invisible horse along with money from the killed demonspawn to hire some mercenaries in End for temporary defense. We also sent mail to the Squid, the patrol leader of End, in case he noticed anything unusual in his patrol sweeps. We also mailed Farrah, the Nevronian cleric in End, that she might send some clerical aid to Middle in case of attack (temporaily, as the church still isn't built yet). We verified Alegra's identity by having her cast a spell in front of the Phaulkonian clergyman here in Middle (verified that she is Phaulkonian). We then gathered a lamp to light the meditation candle (so that Alegra can get Call Lightning) in, because of the rain. We headed off to base camp on the ridge, with which to attack presumably the day the rain just stopped (so they would go to the Barnaire Theatre (open air)) [Faranyn and his entourage stayed to look after Middle in Ceydric's absence -- note that Ceydric's men-at-arms guarded the horses at base camp and everyone else went on to the city when the time came] We used Alegra's weather sense abilities along with some spells of hers to predict when the weather would stop but there would still be clouds to call down the lightning.. During this time Eli turned people invisible (he had a lot of time, because the weather lasted another day and would break the following day, when we would attack).

We were then all invisible except Ludo and Dari, the thieves and we headed for the city.

January 04, 1994

Middle-of-the-Road (Middle) - town within the Barony of End tied strongly to the Dunadorian Central Government by virtue of its leadership. It is located off the North Trade Track on the way to the End-of-the-Road. A keep is under construction, with the main fortress being currently the tower of the Soulestone. Middle is magic friendly and open to many good and neutral religions, unlike much of Dunador. It is within easy distance to adventuring sites. It has a Blue Star Inn. [note: we hope to make into a barony with End becoming a Duchy someday; we'll see.] Population: unknown.

>I have a few questions about things in the log:
>what is a "hide-behind"?

We don't really know, just that they are small grey creatures with lots of teeth that are invisible when alive but appear when dead, that can only be seen in mirrors when alive. They like to try strangle you and/or plug you with poison daggers. We have an antidote to their poison.

> what's the status of End in relation to Dunador?

It is a part of Dunador that does not pay taxes at the moment, that won't until at least Trent does, I believe.

January 03, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Aftermath of Alegra's Rescue

Gerald is happy to get Alegra back safely and was worried about her. Especially after ensuring her identity, he simultaneously warns her to be more careful and congratulates her wisdom in surviving.

Gerald suggests various preparations in case the demon-worshippers attack us and/or Middle. First, realize that everyone (practically) hates demons. Second, don't scare the populace of Middle. Third, don't make people angry at us by making them think we incited the demon-worshippers to anger.
On the first point, the various churches in Middle (you have mentioned several) should be willing to help out. Decide whether or not to enlist their help. Just keep the second and third points in mind.
On personal preparation, we should consider magics available:

Alegra can prepare Glyphs of Warding on small items to give us of us as well as place around strategic points. She may be able to cast Divination to learn more info. Depending on what the demonspawn are, if she can Abjure them it's nice. If she can Implore (reversed Abjure) a servant of Phaulkon to help fight the demonspawn, it would be of great use and conceivably relevant to the angel (or whatever).
Dari can probably cast useful third-level spells of strategic use: Plant Growth, Snare, and Stone Shape have permanent effects. If she is 6th level, Hallucinatory Forest also has a nice strategic use, especially if combined with Plant Growth. Protection from Lightning would be great against the beithir.

Gerald can help set traps if you want to do that, and Ludo might be able to as well. (Though Gerald's probably better at the kind of outdoor traps I have in mind.)

The "everyone" that hates demons includes other adventurers. There's a friendly group at Koralgesh, and we could tell them we are friends of Gram. King Ranore and Duke Konrad are a bit far off, but they might send someone to help out. Other opportunities abound, though we might not need (or want) any help at all.

January 02, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: Ruins Exploration

Mind you, this attack took place on July, 3 2172.

We explored the city and learned that the beihir can leave it. We explored a few buildings of interest and saw some bugbears who had snakeskins for totems. They appeared to be enemies of the snake worshippers. We found a tunnel marked with the name "Tunnel" into the mountain in Runic II or III. Beithir sized. It had huge guardian stone golems.

We then planned to send in two groups from our base camp on the ridge (with everyone except the cavaliers there). The first would scout around the tunnel since we knew it was out of town currently, and the second would look around at night to see where there were lights (specifically in a library we were interested in). Both teams were to be invisible. The first team was Alegra and Elowier the mage-steward and Dari. The looked at the demonspawn a bit, but not too much interesting there. Dari fell off the wall here and turned visible. She left the city and we went around to the other side. We watched to see who came out of the "enemy" bugbear tower - this was before we knew it was bugbears. We then left and went to look at the tunnel.

Nothing was there, but Alegra shined her a continual light bead into the tunnel while Elowier stood at the gate to the courtyard where the tunnel was. Light kept reflecting back, like 1 flash then wait then two flashes then three etc. Finally this freaked out Alegra enough to leave. She went to where Elowier was supposed to be and said, "Okay, let's go." Then Elowier says, "Okay." Then another voice, says, "No, Dari's back in the tunnel." We realize that this person is speaking with Alegra's voice.

January 01, 1994

Stone Soules Summary: The Founding of Middle-of-the-Road and Early Adventures

The Anarchists
They intercepted a cargo shipment to the Barony that Ceydric went and followed them. They just dumped the stuff in a ditch and tried on purpose to have us receive a message on one of the people we killed there. It was garbage about the Duke of Andevar wanting the "royalist upstarts destroyed" or somesuch. That was what ultimately caused the Dunadorian Central Government to send us a small unit of troops headed by Al.

Zalk the Sage
He's a sage at the School of Wizardry, foremost in Magic Item research who took a box we had brought him and figured out the combination so that none of the 100+ magic traps would destroy us or it. It had Tuggutian currency (paper) inside.

Great Old City
Looks like we found the remains of a group from S.M.A.R.T. in the desert monster's lair. But the Jack of Clubs we just have a log in code...the one from S.M.A.R.T. blew up when we tried to open it (4-40 points damage).

December 31, 1993

Stone Soules Summary: An introduction to Tan-El, or the Greate Olde City

The Greate Olde City

There are tales of a vast civilization on a plateau in the Hadarna
mountains. From the descriptions it was a vast and wealthy place, perhaps as
large as one of the New World countries. Various tortuous and guarded routes
allowed entrance to the city. It was in search of one of these entrances that
the high wizard of Teft disappeared and has been assumed dead.

The city they describe is old enough to meet the rumors of these
ancient lands. If so then the city was inhabited by humans with a great and
complicated land. What happened to them? No one knows. The disappearance
of a civilization of such size seems to pose a problem.

There are hints that the King of Cromwell and Dunstill and Illic have
traveled through the mountains from the Indicara and found an entrance to the
land. Both returned with some small wealth from the jungles. Dunstill and
Illic failed in their quest, but with their information the King appears to
have succeeded. Neither seems to know much about the history, only that the
land in the mountains they record is a wasteland of crazed nomads.

Consulting the legends of the locals of the End area, there are stories
of a City of the Gods, a strange and magical place nestled high in the
mountains. The rumors seem to come from a relatively strong source. At one
point a cloud giant adventurer reports using his cloud to travel there. The
winds threatened to dash his castle against the peaks, and he was scared to
stay but he describes vast treasures in ancient coins, strange buildings, and
magical portals. A storm blew up shortly after his landing and he was forced
to negotiate his cloud castle out of the mountains quickly. He tried to return
but the winds never made it possible.

The rumor has been tentatively confirmed by a druid in SMART who was
owed a favor by a great eagle. The flight was VERY difficult but the eagle did
report a city of vast size, a city fit for the gods themselves. SMART was
eventually driven from the area by more and more coordinated attacks by a
group of demon worshipers (presumably the Lesser Ones and Great Ones).

---

Edwin says that End is "unquestionably" the largest city in the New World we have ever seen (Dunthrane was bigger before the War, though).

We are in a ruined city [the Great Old City] near End. We are the first PCs to ever visit End, apparently, and this city is oodles of fun. Beithir, sphinx, desert monster (in the Great Olde Woode), etc.

There are other ruins, but the Great Old City is the only one we have visited namely because to the west there is a zephyr roc before you arrive at the ruins which picks off adventurers rather easily. To the north there are supposed to be more, but some are really picked over quite a bit.